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I'd love two sure MS, just for the shear hell of it, but starting a legal claim in the EU tends to be quite a bit more expensive then in the states (something I find makes for allot less stupid lawsuits, but that's off topic).

Thing is, ain't no one stopping all you US citizens. ;-)

Edited 2007-09-25 13:21 UTC

Well, aparrently, a small claims proceeding (certainly suitable here) costs £30 or £50 (depending on the exact ammount being claimed for), and the cost of a solicitor if you use one. Most of this can be recovered if (when) you win.

This would fall under breach of contract and/or false advertising, depending on the wording MS used to 'promise' said product(s).

This could be done in the U.S. for about $50 without a lawyer ( you will lose, the judges are too corrupt for the most part ), or with a lawyer for another chunk ranging from $400 to $2,500, all in a small claims court, but you will likely still lose. Unless you run into one of the few non-business minded judges, or one who has some brains ( VERY UNLIKELY, these people are generally elected, and aren't always required to even have legal experience (though this is a more per-county and per-precinct concern, the vastly numerous smaller local courts ).

For false advertising, contact the BBB (better business bureau) and other consumer protection agency's ( such as the CPA :-)) to fight the battle, then you can file a civil class-action ( or solo ) suit to recover perceived damages. This would require a few phones calls, some gas money, filing fees near $50. Sadly, the extras will likely be delivered before you get a hearing, but the BBB could have filed against them already on behalf of consumers should enough complain. This will lead to larger results with little of your input. The problem is known.

So, those of you who bought the products.. call the Consumer Protection Agency and the Better Business Bureau, it may not get anything done, but it should have the effect of the both agencies launching investigations or queries, and possibly even taking action ( normally outside of the court system, MS would have a big bill regardless ).

Then, if you must, file a small-claims suit to recover lost product value. Though, MS will just throw the EULA which no one reads at you. You know, the thing where it says you are MS's biatch???

--The loon

There was no contract, and false advertising isn't something that generally can be handled in small claims court. Any argument would have to be based on claiming that MS committed to future benefits in exchange for purchasing the product presently, but in the absence of anything specific with timelines or detailed descriptions, MS likely wouldn't be on the hook for anything.

Arguing for damages would be difficult, because MS could argue that the plaintiff had full use of the OS, with features unavailable in lower-priced versions. The best you could hope for is MS being forced to refund the purchase price.

BUT, and here's the best part, depending on the locale and the claim amount, there's a very good chance that MS wouldn't even bother or be able to send a representative. In fact, that's something many people rely on when suing larger organizations in small claims court for nominal amounts of money.

Failure to show by the defendant will almost always result in an automatic claim in favor of the plaintiff (at least in Canada, but AFAIK it's similar in the US) assuming that the complaint isn't too far off the wall. Once you have that judgement, you then have options available to exercise that claim.

So, it's a crap shoot going the small claims route, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I suspect MS would have a much harder time dealing with thousands of ankle-biting small claims cases across the country than they would with a nice-and-tidy class action suit that their lawyers are much better suited for.